Lele Pons


Eleonora "Lele" Pons Maronese is an American Internet celebrity, YouTuber, actress, singer, dancer, model, and former host of La Voz... México. She currently stars in The Secret Life of Lele Pons, a YouTube Original docuseries providing a look at her personal life.
Pons came to prominence on Vine before the platform shut down in 2016. She has since branched out, creating comedy sketches for YouTube, where she now has over 16 million subscribers, and 40.6 million followers on Instagram. She has acted in film, television and in music videos, has released her own music, and co-authored a novel in 2016.

Early life

Pons was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Pons moved to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Miami Country Day School in 2015 and moved to Los Angeles, California. She has said that she had trouble making friends in high school, so she "would get hurt to make them laugh." She has also said that she was bullied at high school. She said "I'm not like the cool girls—I'm the other girl. The one that's basically a nerd, but proud of that."
Pons has Tourette syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and has struggled with depression and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Career

Pons began her career on the six-second video platform Vine. She has said she used Vine to showcase the creative things she was already doing. Speaking to Teen Vogue, Pons said, "I started with my friends, and I started becoming bad. At first it was just being really creative - it wasn't even funny stuff." Her follower base continued to grow and Pons has said that it "got to the point where a lot of people depended on me to make them... just so they could get a laugh." She became the first "Viner" to reach one billion loops.
Writing in The Cut, Allie Jones described Pons' comedy as "universal, physical, and complete with a twist ending." Pons' comedic style has also been criticised. For instance, former Viner, Cody Ko, critically viewed one her sketches, saying, "This was written by a four-year-old." Pons cites, among her inspirations, several Latina stars including Sofía Vergara, Gaby Espino, and Shakira. In 2016, she was signed with entertainment company Shots Studios.
Pons is managed by John Shahidi of Shots Studios.
Pons has used her success in Internet comedy to launch a number of enterprises. In 2015, she launched a jewelry collection called UNO Magnetic. In 2016, Pons co-authored a novel based on her own high school experiences, Surviving High School, co-authored with Melissa de la Cruz. Pons starred as Callie in the 2016 romantic comedy We Love You, released on YouTube Red. In the movie, characters played by Yousef Erakat and Justin Dobies both fall for Pons, who is "cool enough" to date both of them at the same time. The movie was produced by YouTube and AwesomenessTV.
Pons appeared in the first episode of MTV's horror TV series, Scream, in which she was the season's first victim. She has starred in a number of music videos, including "Havana" by Camila Cabello, and "Downtown" by Anitta and J Balvin. In May 2018, Pons released her debut single, a Spanish-language duet with Matt Hunter titled "Dicen." The YouTube music video amassed 10 million views in just four days. Pons has also had success in modelling. In February 2017, she became a brand ambassador for CoverGirl. The same month, Pons walked in a Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan. Babe criticised the move as seeming "a bit hackneyed and past-it." In August, Pons released her first single and music video for her song "Celoso," which was directed by fellow creator Rudy Mancuso. The song was certified 3x Platinum and earned a nomination for the Premios Lo Nuestro nomination for the video. On March 29, 2019 Lele released her English-language debut, and her first country song with the Jake Owen duet "Señorita" from his album Greetings from... Jake.
Pons took over hosting of La Voz... México on October 14, 2018. She presented the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards with Aitana.
On December 6, 2019, Pons released her new single and music video “Vete Pa La.” The music video was self-directed and edited by Pons and produced by Shots Studios.
On December 2019, Pons was a co-host on the red carpet alongside Chelsea Briggs for the 2019 Billboard Women in Music.
Pons was a guest speaker at the 2020 CES conference held in Las Vegas, NV. As a digital media mogul and global entertainer, Pons was asked to be a speaker on the Spotify panel alongside Spotify’s Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff. She talked about how Spotify revolutionized music and impacted her career and how she plans on using that same model for her upcoming podcast with Spotify.
On April 22, 2020, Pons shared the trailer for The Secret Life of Lele Pons, a five part docuseries exploring her lifelong struggles with mental health. The first of the five episodes premiered on May 19, 2020.

Personal life

Pons revealed in 2015 that she had a nose job, stating "I believe that you should do whatever makes you happy and feel confident. This is something I always wanted to do and waited until the right time to do it!", further reiterating "the important thing is that you don't change who you are inside!".

Filmography

Films

Television

Music videos

Discography

Singles

Awards and nominations

AwardYearNominated workCategoryResult
BreakTudo Awards2018HerselfInternational Youtuber
BreakTudo Awards2018"Celoso"Debut Music Video
BreakTudo Awards2019HerselfInternational Instagrammer
Eres Awards Mexico2019HerselfQueen of Instagram
iHeartRadio Music Awards2019HerselfSocial Star Award
iHeartRadio Music Awards2019HerselfBest New Latin Artist
Lo Nuestro Awards2019"Celoso"Video of the Year
MTV Millennial Awards2017HerselfWorldwide Instagrammer of the Year
MTV Millennial Awards2017Herself Best YouTube Collaboration
MTV Millennial Awards2018HerselfWorldwide Instagrammer of the Year
MTV Millennial Awards2018HerselfInstastories of the Year
MTV Millennial Awards2018HerselfDance Cover
Nickelodeon Mexico Kids' Choice Awards2018HerselfFavorite YouTuber
People's Choice Awards2016HerselfFavorite Social Media Star
People's Choice Awards2018HerselfThe Social Star of 2018
Premios Juventud2016Herself6 Segundos de Fama
Premios Juventud2019HerselfTriple Threat
Shorty Awards2015HerselfChoice Viner
Shorty Awards2018HerselfYouTuber of the Year
Streamy Awards2015HerselfBest Viner
Streamy Awards2016Escape the NightBest Ensemble Cast
Teen Choice Awards2014HerselfChoice Viner
Teen Choice Awards2015HerselfChoice Viner
Teen Choice Awards2015HerselfChoice Web Star: Female
Teen Choice Awards2016HerselfChoice Viner
Teen Choice Awards2017HerselfChoice Web Star: Comedy
Teen Choice Awards2018HerselfChoice Web Star: Comedy
Teen Choice Awards2018HerselfChoice Female Web Star
Teen Choice Awards2018HerselfChoice YouTuber
Tu Awards Mexico2018HerselfQueen of Instagram